New York Times bestselling author and spiritual teacher, Marianne Williamson, announced her candidacy for election to the U.S. House of Representatives from California’s Congressional District 33.
Williamson brings to the candidacy a 30-year career as a speaker, counselor and author, having written 10 books, including “Healing the Soul of America,” in 1997. She also founded the non-profit organization in Los Angeles called Project Angel Food, which is a meals on wheels program that feeds home-bound people with AIDS and other life-challenging illnesses. She is also the founder of The Los Angeles and Manhattan Centers for Living, providing non-medical support services for people living with life-challenging illnesses, and co-founded The Peace Alliance, based on the campaign to establish a Unites States Department of Peace.
“I do not think of this move as a career change. Rather, I feel I’m further expanding my work by taking the transformational principles to which I have dedicated myself for the last 30 years into another area where they are sorely needed,” Williamson wrote on a blog at her new site, www.marianneforcongress.com. “We have developed, over the last few decades, a system of legalized corruption in the United States, in which those with money are accorded much more political influence than those who are without. And that is not democracy. If only those with financial leverage can wield political influence, then those without such leverage – children, for instance – too easily see their interests sidelined.”
Running against Congressman Waxman, Williamson said she does not think of him as an opponent, but as someone running for the same position, and does not feel that she would be better at the job – just different.
“When it comes to issues of the environment and holding banking institutions accountable, I would seek to continue Mr. Waxman’s legacy,” she said. “But, I will bring to the position an additional set of priorities, and a new consciousness regarding our political discourse. From child poverty to mass incarceration to the corruption of our food supply to more enlightened peace-building measures – and, most particularly, to our need to counter the assault on our democracy through gerrymandering and the undue influence of money on our politics – I bring a new set of priorities and new energy with which to express them.”
Waxman has been a Congressman for 38 years, and what Williamson plans to bring is “fresh ideas,” to the role, she explained on her site. “A new conversation is required now, and the political status quo – even the best of it – cannot provide that. Waxman knows many things because he’s been in Congress for 38 years, but I know many things because I have not been. Institutional memory is important in any organization, but so are fresh ideas,” she stated.
Although she is a Democrat, Williamson is running as an Independent because she is “interested in a new conversation in American politics,” that she doesn’t believe “can be contained by any political party.”
Williamson hopes the campaign will give people who have not participated in a Congressional campaign in the past inspiration to become more involved.
“What needs to be done now can’t be done only from the sidelines; those of us who share the values of this campaign need to stand on them, run on them and win on them,” she said. “This way we’ll reclaim our democracy and do our part to help save the world.”
Watch Williamson on Larry King in the video below: